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Message: <blockquote data-quote="JohnNephew" data-source="post: 172376" data-attributes="member: 2171">Here's some food for thought in the "RPGs are books" area.  In many respects, they are most like textbooks.  Doing them right requires a lot of careful technical editing (it certainly increases the value to you as a consumer if someone has been able to afford the time to double-check stats, right?), research, playtesting, illustration -- in short, it's a lot like the effort that goes into textbooks.  And not a lot like publishing a simple fiction book, all text without any pictures or diagrams.What do textbooks sell for these days?  I know the RPG books I'm familiar with are generally selling for less than what I had to spend on most textbooks in college, more than a decade ago.Browsing Amazon, here are some examples I come across:<a href="http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0135187540/qid=1020056935/sr=1-9/ref=sr_1_9/103-6408064-0275800" target="_blank">An ESL textbook</a>, 272 pages in roughly 9" x 7" format (smaller than the usual game book, but thicker than many game books too), list price $29.  Since its thickness is less than half an inch, I'm assuming it's softcover and probably on fairly light paper.A textbook on Estuarine Science, 416 pages (thicker than the typical RPG, let's admit), runs $30 for the <a href="http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/1559637005/qid=1020057307/sr=2-1/ref=sr_2_1/103-6408064-0275800" target="_blank">softcover</a> and twice as much, $60, for the <a href="http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/1559636998/ref=ed_oe_h/103-6408064-0275800" target="_blank">hardcover</a>.  This one doesn't seem to have fancy color pictures, like say the FRCS.How about a 432-page  <a href="http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/020532181X/qid=1020057307/sr=1-2/ref=sr_1_2/103-6408064-0275800" target="_blank">Introduction to Forensic Anthropology</a> -- for $72?  Here's one a lot like the format of RPG books.  It's near 8 1/2 x 11 in size, 282 pages, paperback -- pretty much the format of our Ars Magica game (which is 272 pp), in its softcover edition.  But while Ars Magica is $30, the <a href="http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0130105767/ref=pd_bxgy_text_2/103-6408064-0275800" target="_blank">Forensic Anthropology Training Manual</a> is $37.  (They also sell more than us, on Amazon at least, if you compare the sales rankings -- 38,645 versus 170,385.)Get up into the thick textbooks (600-1000 pages, say), and you're easily running in the $100-$200 range each.  I think I like the 672-page <a href="http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0792363213/qid=1020058444/sr=1-11/ref=sr_1_11/103-6408064-0275800" target="_blank">Medical Entomology</a>, with a list price of $260!  And it's a paperback!  (Although, oddly, the hardcover indicates the same price.  There might be a data entry error there.)My point is, if you compare RPGs to other small-press/specialty publications, they're pretty cheap, on average, especially when you're talking about the thicker RPG books.  (I'd be interested to know how 64-page-and-under modules compare to smaller workbooks and similar things in the textbook market, if anyone has examples.)</blockquote>

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